Turret mill



J. W. O'BRIEN Dec; 20, 1966 TURRET MILL 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 2,1963 4y. R. J; 0N 2A; mm? m Q4 W. f 5 .MO H M;

J. W. O'BRIEN Dec. 20, 1966 TURRET MILL 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 2,1963 mm m ma.fi 4 5 f/ Dec. 20, 1966 r J. w. O'BRIEN TURRET MILL 4Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 2, 1963 Mill (1 77%;; Q ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 38,680/62 11 Claims. (11. 72-238) This inventionrelates to rolling mills and, more particularly, to mills of the typeemployed in the rolling of billets, bars, rounds and the like.

For example, modern high-production vertical mills are provided with apair of cooperative metal reducing rolls, which in many cases are formedwith a series of different shape or size grooves or passes along theirlengths. In one such mill each of the rolls, which are 30 inches indiameter and 48 inches in body length, has two similar size passes forrolling billets and two different size passes for rolling rounds. Thebillet passes are also employed for edging skelp slabs, which is thethird product produced by the mill.

Even in mills having a more simplified roll pass design or where thepasses are all the same size, the mills are provided with a mechanismfor vertically adjusting the rolls so that each pass thereof can bepositioned to receive a workpiece passing along a fixed horizontal steelline. With respect to the exemplary mill, the rolls must be adjustedvertically a relatively long distance of 48 inches.

Present-day mills of the type under discussion possess several definiteand serious disadvantages which are reflected in the designs, operation,maintenance of the mills and in the cost of the mills and rollinventory. One of the disadvantages in mill design is brought about bythe need of providing for vertically adjusting the rolls, but in amanner wherein the rolling leads are adequately contained. In oneconstruction an interhousing is provided which slides vertically in anouter stationary housing, which ultimately receives the rolling loads.

As to the operational disadvantages of such mills, one of the mostserious has reference to the lost production time incident to rollchanging. There are threeproce dures for changing the rolls in themills: one, to remove the rolls by lifting them in pairs from thehousing; two, to remove the rolls together with the interhousing wheresuch a mill construction is being employed; and three, in certain millsto remove the entire mill and replace it by a duplicate mill. While theextent of lost time experienced in effecting the changing of the rollsditfers in each of these procedures, even the most optimum involves anappreciable loss in production time. Moreover, they are all dependentupon the services of one or more cranes during the actual roll changingprocedure.

Since the complicatedness of the mill design is a large factor in themaintenance cost of the mills, the presentday mills being verycomplicated also entail this drawback. The maintenance cost is increasedeven more in view of the influence that the mechanism for verticallyadjusting the rolls has on the designs of the drive and spindles of themills.

A still further limitation of present-day mills is in regard to theinitial investment cost and the cost of maintaining a roll inventoryadequate to cover the various products produced by the mills. Thenecessity of having to adjust the rolls a relatively great distancesubstantially increases the cost of manufacturing the mills. Thus it"ice will be readily appreciated that in addition to the cost ofSupplying the roll adjusting mechanism, the drives, spindles andhousings of the mills must be designed to allow for the verticalmovement of the rolls. Moreover, the long, large diameter rolls areexpensive in themselves, let alone the added cost of having to providelarge housings, bearings, chocks, etc. that these rolls require. Afurther disadvantage is found in that both the mechanism for verticallyadjusting the rolls and the drive for the rolls are arranged beneath themill, in which the spindles that drive the rolls have to be made longenough to accommodate the full adjustment of the rolls, all of Whichnecessitated a deep pit being provided in the foundation Which'greatlyincreases the cost of the mill.

Additional monetary losses are experienced by reason of the fact that inall rolls full utilization of the life of the passes can not berealized. Moreover, the attempt to utilize the full life of the passesinvolves more frequent roll changes and, hence, an attendant loss inproduction time. The vertical adjustment of the rolls also involves theloss in time incident to the removal and replacement of the guides forthe passes.

In view of the fact that a suflicient number of different passes tocover the Whole range of products produced by the mill can not be formedin the rolls, two or more rolls are often required. To keep the numberof roll changes to a minimum, the rolling schedule of the mill must beprearranged. This, however, greatly complicates the entire operation ofthe mill and imposes serious limitations, particularly relative to beingable to make quick delivery on orders.

Another disadvantage of present-day mills is where there is unequal wearof one of the passes of the rolls, in which case the rolls must beturned down to re-form the worn pass and as a result the unworn passesmust be reformed before full utilization of their rolling life has beenrealized.

One form of the present invention relates to an improved vertical millwhich will either completely or substantially reduce the detrimentaleffects of each and every one of the enumerated disadvantages ofpresent-day mills.

The improved mill provides a pair of rotatable spacedapart turretsarranged on parallel vertical axis carrying two roll assemblies spaced180 apart. These rolls, in

the preferred form, are provided with only a single pass and,consequently, theirlengths and diameters are appreciably smaller thanthe rolls of present-day mills. In the improved mill the rolls and/orpasses are changed by simply rotating the turrets which willautomatically remove the old set of rolls from their rolling positionand insert the new set therein. The guides for the new rolls can bepreassemble-d on the turrets so that once the rolls are brought to therolling position extensive guide manipulation will not be necessary.

It will be appreciated in this construction that While the mill isrolling steel, a new set of rolls, including their guides, can bemounted on the turrets and held in readiness for immediate positioninginto the rolling position when a roll and/or pass changes is desired.

One of the turrets, in the preferred form of the present invention, isadjustable transversely and vertically rela tive to the other so thatthe passes of the rolls can be brought to their proper cooperativepositions.

In the preferred form each turret is provided with a downward projectionfor each of its rolls, in which either one or the other of theseprojections contact a restricting surface that prevents rotation of theturrets during the operation of the mill. Means are provided for raisingthe turrets so as to free the contacting projections and allow theturrets to be rotated, after which they can be lowered and the otherprojections will come into the restrictive positions. The raising andlowering of the turrets will also automatically disengage and engage theends of the rolls from the driving spindles.

The present invention will be better understood when the followingdescription is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings ofwhich:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a vertical mill incorporating the features ofthe present invention,

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken on lines IIII of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken on lines III-III of FIGURE 2,

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken on lines IVIV of FIGURE 2,

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken on lines VV of FIGURE 2, and

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken on lines VIVI of FIGURE 2.

With reference to FIGURES l, 4 and 5 there is provided two pairs ofhorizontally spaced apart upright frames 11 and 12 to which are securedat their tops and bottoms two pairs of horizontally extending beams 13and 14, the beam being best shown in FIGURE 4. As shown in FIGURES 2 and4, the beams 13 serve to support upper turret housings 15 and 16, thesebeams having recesses 17 that form supporting surfaces for the turrethousings 15 and 16 and a guiding surface for the housing 15. As alsobest shown in FIGURES 2 and 4, the lower beams 14 are provided withprojections 18 which support lower turret housings 21 and 22 and inaddition guide the lower turret housing 21. In this construction thepairs of upper and lower turret housings are vertically spaced away fromeach other, and each is provided with opposed bearing-linedcomplementary openings 23, these openings being best shown in FIGURES 2and 5.

Into the opposed pair of bearing-lined openings 23 of each housing,there is rotatably received vertically arranged turrets 24 and 25, thisconstruction also :being best shown in FIGURE 2. Each of these turretshas extending from its opposite sides, spaced 180 apart, horizontal rollsupporting wings 26 and 27, FIGURE 6 showing this construction in detailas to the turret 25. As shown in the figures, the wings 27 rotatablycarry cooperating metal reducing rolls 28 and 29, whereas, with respectto the wings 26, it will be noted that the rolls which are adapted to becarried thereby have been omitted for the purpose of illustration.

As shown in FIGURES l, 2 and 4, the wings 26 and 27 are provided withslotted studs 31 over which pass openings formed in chocks 32 of therolls, the chocks being secured to the wings 27 by tapered keys 33 thatare inserted in the slots of the studs 31. The keys can be seen inreferring to FIGURES 2 and 4.

The rolls 28 and 29 being formed with only one pass can be made quiteshort in length and small in diameter. As shown, particularly in FIGURE6, roll guides 34 are secured to the wings 26 and 27 by tapered keys 35.At the bottom of each of the wings 26 and 27 a pair of downwardlyextending projections 36 are provided. As can be seen in FIGURE 4, theprojections 36 of the wings 27 carrying the rolls 28 and 29 engageupward projections 37 formed on the inner sides of the lower turrethousings 21 and 22. In this way the turrets 24 and 25 are prevented fromrotating during the engagement of the projections, but yet, the turret24 is permitted to move freely transversely toward and away from theturret 25.

The turrets 24 and 25 are raised through the agency of individual pistoncylinder assemblies 38 and 39, respectively, the cylinders of which aresecured to the upper 4 turret housings 15 and 16, this constructionbeing best shown in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4. As shown in FIGURE. 2, theelongated rods 41 of the piston cylinder assemblies, 38 and 39 aresecured to the lower ends of non-rotatable sleeves 40 which are spacedintermediate the extreme lower end of the rods and the lower ends of theturrets. The sleeves 40 carry the weight of the turrets and for whichreason their upper ends are flanged, the upper surfaces of which carrybearings and the lower, surfaces rest upon the lower turret housings 21and 22. In this construction, on the operation of the piston cylinderassemblies 38 and 39, the sleeves 40 and turrets will be raised adistance suflicient to enable the projections 36 of the wings 26 or 27to clear the projections 37 formed on the lower. turret housings 21 and22. It will also be noted that the lifting movement will automaticallyraise the end of the rolls 28 and 29 out of the couplings, to bereferred to later. The lowering of the turrets will cause the rolls andcouplings to automatically engage each other, the rolls, if necessary,having been turned to the proper angular positions relative to Vcouplings to assure this result.

To rotate the turrets after they have been thus raised, individualpiston cylinder assemblies 42 and 43 are provided, the cylinders ofwhich are also secured to the turret housings 15 and 16, as shown inFIGURES 1, 2 and 3. To the ends of each of the rods of these cylinderassemblies a ratchet pawl 44 is secured, the free end of which is guidedto engage one of four equally spaced.

recesses formed in a racthet ring 45, which is rotatably received in thetop of the upper turret housings 15 and 16. From the centers of theratchet rings 45, sleeves 46 extend downwardly, the lower portions ofwhich are provided with flat driving surfaces against which engagecomplementary surfaces formed in openings 47 of flanges 48. As shown inFIGURE 2 the flanges 48 are secured to the top of the turrets 24 and 25and through which pass the rods 41 of the piston cylinder assembly 38.In this manner, assuming that the turrets are to be raised 'by theoperation of the piston cylinder assemblies 38 and 39 to bring theopenings 47 of the flanges 48 over the sleeves 46, the operation of thepiston cylinder assemblies 42 and 43 will effect a rotation of theturrets 24 and 25, it necessitating two successive forward operations ofthe cylinder assemblies to-rotate the turrets the required The turrethousings 15 and 21, with their turret and roll, are transversely movedin unison over the beams 13 and 14 through the agency of a pair of upperand lower worm-wheel-screw sets 49 and 50 respectively. These sets aredriven from a common motor 51, the equipment being all arranged on theoperating side of the mill, i.e.,

the left side as one views FIGURE 2. As best shown in FIGURE 5, thescrews engage projections 53 perpendicularly arranged with respect tothe wings 26 and 27. In combination with each of the screws of the upperwormwheel-screw set 49 there is provided individual piston 6 cylinderassemblies 54 which, as shown in FIGURE 1,

are connected to the projections 53 and, thus, serve to urge the turrethousing 15 against the ends of the upper screws. For the lower turrethousing 21, piston cylinder assemblies 55 are arranged on the drive sideof the mill,

i.e., the left side as one views FIGURE 2. In this case,

and as shown only in FIGURE 5, the rods 56 of the piston cylinderassemblies 55 are extended and their ends engage one of the verticalsides of the projections 53 of the turret housing 21 whereby the turretis urged against the screws of the lower worm-wheel-screw set 50.

The turret 24, as previously noted, in addition to being movedtransversely relative to the turret 25 is also 'adjustable verticallyrelative thereto. To accomplish this, as shown best in FIGURE 2, theextended rod 41 o f the piston cylinder assembly 38 is connected at itslower end to a cross link 57, the opposite ends of the cross link being,in turn, pivotally connected to a short link 58 and an adjustable longerlink 59. The short link 58 is pivotally secured to the turret housing21; whereas, the upper end of the longer link passes through an openingformed in the turret housing 21, which end is threaded for receiving anut 61. The turret 24 and its roll 28 can thus be raised by operation ofthe piston cylinder assembly 38 to align the pass of the roll 28relative to the pass of the roll 29. When the proper aligned position isobtained, the nut 61 can be tightened up to maintain the turret 24 inthe adjusted position.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the lower ends of the rolls 28 and 29 are providedwith couplings 62, the couplings being drivenly connected to spindles 63which, in turn, are connected to a drive 64 and thus to a motor 65.

As previously indicated, one of the important advantages of the presentinvention has reference to the fact that a new set of rolls can bemounted on the outer wings 26 of turrets 24 and 25 while the mill rolls28 and 29 are rolling steel. The guides for the new set of rolls alsocan be prepositioned, whereby simply by raising and rotating the turrets24 and 25 the new rolls and guides can be quickly brought into theoperating position. This condition not only greatly reduces the rollchanging time in comparison with present-day mills, but of equalimportance it greatly simplifies the rolling schedule and, as a result,quick delivery of small tonnage orders can be made. It is significant tonote that the actual roll changing of the mill is not dependent upon theemployment of a crane, so that the services of the crane can be madeavailable for other important mill maintenance operations during thisperiod. As a result, the total nonproductive time of the entire plant isreduced, in addition to the substantial reduction in downtime forchanging the rolls of the vertical mill itself.

It will be appreciated that, while the novel features of the presentinvention have been explained which refer to a vertical mill, many ofthe features thereof are just as applicable to other types of mills. Itwill further be appreciated that in certain circumstances the rolls ofthe mill may be provided with more than one pass, although such amodification, should it involve too many passes, Would detract fromrealizing the full advantages of the invention.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I haveexplained the principle and operation of my invention and haveillustrated and described what I consider to represent the bestembodiment thereof. However, I desire to have it understood that withinthe scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practicedotherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. A rolling mill comprising:

a pair of rotatable spaced-apart members arranged on predetermined axes,

a pair of rolls rotatably carried by each member,

said members being so arranged with respect to each other and the rollsof one member with respect to the rolls of the other member that theroll can be brought selectively into and out of a single cooperativeoperating position on the rotation of the members,

said members include means for supporting workpiece guides for each rollthereof,

the construction being such that a roll and guide can be preassembled onthe members preparatory to being brought into a cooperative operatingposition while other rolls and guides are in said position.

2. A rolling mill comprising:

a pair of rotatable spaced-apart members arranged on predetermined axes,

a frame for rotatably supporting said members in a manner to permitrelative vertical and horizontal movement between said members,

a pair of rolls rotatably carried by each member,

said members being so arranged with respect to each other and the rollsof one member with respect to the rolls of the other member that therolls can be brought selectively into and out of a single cooperative operating position on the rotation of the members.

3. A vertical mill for rolling elongated workpieces such as billets,bars and the like comprising:

a pair of spaced apart housings arranged on a common vertical axes,

a frame for supporting the housings in a manner that at least one isslidable thereover relative to the other,

a turret rotatably carried by each housing,

a pair of roll supporting members carried by each of said turrets, and

means for rotating each turret so as to selectively position a rollcarried by one of its supporting members into a single cooperativeoperating position with a roll of the other turret, wherein at the sametime the other supporting member of each turret is positioned so that asecond roll can be mounted thereon in readiness for positioning intosaid cooperative operating position.

4. A vertical mill according to claim 3, wherein,

said rolls have a single pass formed therein, and

said roll supporting members are spaced apart 5. A vertical millaccording to claim 3 including,

elements selectively engageable with said turrets,

means for vertically moving said turrets to cause engagement anddisengagement of said elements with said turrets, wherein in the engagedposition the turrets are prevented from rotating, and

means for moving at least one of said housings over said frame relativeto the other housing.

6. A vertical lmill according to claim 5 including,

a drive,

means for connecting the drive to said rolls positioned in saidcooperative operating position,

said rolls being engaged and disengaged from said drive connecting meanson operation of said means for vertically moving said turrets.

7. A vertical mill according to claim 5 including,

a rotatable ratchet carried by each housing,

driving elements connected to said ratchets,

driven elements normally spaced from said driving elements secured tosaid turrets,

said element being brought into driving relation-on the operation ofsaid means for vertically moving said turrets, and

said ratchet being connected to said means for rotating said turrets.

8. A vertical mill according to claim 5 wherein,

said means for moving at least one of said housings relative to theother housing including two pair of screws engageable with said movablehousing,

means for driving said screws, and

means for urging said movable housing against said screws.

'9. A vertical mill according to claim 5 wherein,

each housing has a pair of vertically spaced apart opposed openings,

bearings in said openings for rotatably supporting the opposite ends ofsaid turrets,

a sleeve received in the lower opening of each housing for supportingthe weight of the received turret, bearing carried by said sleeves toallow relative rotation between the turrets and said sleeves.

10. A vertical mill according to claim 9 including a rod for each turretconnected to said means for vertically moving said turrets,

7 8 said rods engageable with said sleeves, whereby on 0p- 7 ReferencesCited by the Examiner eration of said means for vertically moving saidturrets, said sleeves are moved vertically. UNITED STATES PATENTS 11. Avertical mill according to claim 10 including a 737,277 8/1903 Rowland72245 lever connected to one of said rods and one of said 5 995,4276/1911 I h et 1 72 240 housings, 2,011,686 8/1935 Mikaelson et a172.-239 said lever engaging said sleeve of said one housing and2,491,236 12/1949 sheperdson et a1 72 238 connected to an adjustablestop,

means for adjusting said stop to maintain the turret of CHARLES W-LANHAM, Primary Examiner.

said one housing in a predetermined vertical operat- 10 ing position. 7R. D. GREFE, Assistant Examiner.

1. A ROLLING MILL COMPRISING: A PAIR OF ROTATABLE SPACED-APART MEMBERSARRANGED ON PREDETERMINED AXES, A PAIR OF ROLLS ROTATABLY CARRIED BYEACH MEMBER, SAID MEMBERS BEING SO ARRANGED WITH RESPECT TO EACH OTHERAND THE ROLLS OF ONE MEMBER WITH RESPECT TO THE ROLLS OF THE OTHERMEMBER THAT THE ROLLS CAN BE BROUGHT SELECTIVELY INTO AND OUT OF ASINGLE COOPERATIVE OPERATING POSITION ON THE ROTATION OF THE MEMBERS,SAID MEMBERS INCLUDE MEANS FOR SUPPORTING WORKPIECE GUIDES FOR EACH ROLLTHEREOF, THE CONSTRUCTION BEING SUCH THAT A ROLL AND GUIDE CAN BEPREASSEMBLED ON THE MEMBERS PREPARATORY TO BEING BROUGHT INTO ACOOPERATIVE OPERATING POSITION WHILE OTHER ROLLS AND GUIDES ARE IN SAIDPOSITION.